A Question of Perception
by Riku-Rocks
Summary: Tseng questions many things about Rude and Reno, as Turks, partners, and people, until a chance encounter one evening shows him that their perceptions of each other are the only ones that matter.


Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Final Fantasy VII or its characters. Thank you for reading and enjoy.

* * *

Tseng had recently been promoted to Field Commander when Rude joined Turk, and he had noticed right away that the brawny young man was far from loquacious. However, he was good at his job and, within a couple of years, the bald man had earned the title of 'the most powerful of the Turks'.

Despite this, Tseng could not help but feel slightly concerned about the taciturn young man as time passed. Instead of establishing a rapport with the other Turks, the brawny young man grew less sociable and even more reticent. Even when he led a team on assignment, Rude would only speak when necessary and would only say what he absolutely had to. Verdot did not seem to find this concerning, but Tseng could not help but feel that it was hindering the bald Turk.

After a few more years passed, a young Turklet, as the officers jokingly called the trainees, named Reno was promoted to Turk and Tseng could swear Verdot was testing the strength of his heart. Surely, a less battle-hardened man would have had a heart attack at the introduction of the newest recruit. While he had passed every test with flying colours, the skinny redhead was young, vibrant, laidback, playful…none of which were desirable attributes for a Turk. Tseng knew either the teenager would turn out to be brilliant on the field or he would not survive his first mission.

Three missions later, the raven-haired man just wondered if the kid even knew how to knot a tie.

A few weeks later, Rude and Reno had to work an assignment together, and the Field Commander wondered what the odds were of them getting through it without Rude strangling Reno. He returned to his question of whether Verdot was testing him once again, however, as soon as he saw the two Turks in action together. He could not believe that two people who had never fought together, trained together, or even discussed any sort of plan of action would move that efficiently together. Wherever one left an opening or had a weak spot, the other moved in to fill or reinforce it perfectly until they weaved a tight net of kicks, punches, head butts, electric shocks, and other such blows to trap their enemies and take them down.

Partnering the two up just became natural after that.

While the two youths were quickly becoming the best pair of Turks that Tseng had at his disposal, the raven-haired man still could not help but feel that he was missing something when it came to them. He knew there had to be more to the youths than just 'the strongest of the Turks' and 'the fastest of the Turks', but he never heard anything more about them. The other members of Turk joked or teased one another, and occasionally spoke of lovers, friends, or siblings; but never Rude or Reno.

Rude was still rarely heard speaking when he was not required to, and Tseng had long noticed that for all the talking Reno did, the redhead rarely spoke about himself or any private matters. Mainly, the scrawny teenager seemed to be collecting a wealth of information from and about those around him. The Field Commander noted this, for the boy would no doubt be useful for intelligence, but it made him anxious.

There was nothing more intimidating than handling a dangerous weapon when you did not know its full properties or what could set it off.

Still, Verdot did not see any cause for concern or discretion, and so Tseng continued to use the pair more and more...if nothing else, the man could not deny that they were effective.

Tseng was pondering all of this as he left his office late one evening. He supposed his superior had a point in stating that the personal lives of his men should not concern him as long as they performed satisfactory in the field, but the raven-haired man liked to know a little more about his subordinates' mental and emotional states. Their jobs were demanding in every sense of the term and a little reassurance that no one was about to break during a critical moment did not seem like a bad thing to obtain to him.

However, he really did not know how to get that assurance, save for sending the two in question to the company psychiatrist for an evaluation. Unfortunately, he truly had nothing to merit such an action. He doubted even a ShinRa shrink could handle Rude and Reno anyway.

Just before he reached the foyer, Tseng paused as a vaguely familiar voice reached him. He had the feeling he should recognise it, but he could not place it. Knowing that there should only be Turks on this floor of the building, he cautiously headed down the hall that the voice seemed to be issuing from.

The raven-haired man soon approached an office door, which was open only a few inches. The scent of primer, grease, and something like epoxy reached him as he silently peeked into the room. He blinked and could not have made a sound if he wanted to as soon as he realised why he had trouble recognising the voice, which was still speaking easily.

It belonged to Rude.

The bald man was standing by a makeshift workbench, which was covered in various metals, wires, chemical compounds, tools, and assorted equipment that the brawny man used to make the various explosives that he was so adept in creating. Sitting on the edge of the workbench, was Reno, wearing a small, somewhat sad smile as he popped slugs out of some small metal boxes.

Rude was still speaking, his voice less clipped and smoother than Tseng had ever heard it before. "That's not stupid at all, Reno. He's your brother. If they hadn't found my brother's body, I never would have believed he was gone. Those two months that he was MIA were terrible for the whole family…and at least we had each other. I don't even want to imagine going through that shit alone and for nearly ten years; hell, I'm amazed you're sane…well, as sane as you are."

The redhead's smile gained some sincerity to it as he replied, "I guess I just thought, once I got out of the Slums, that I'd be able to find _something_, yo…maybe that was just wishful thinking though. I don't even know what I'd do if I did find him now."

"Well, I guess you'll figure that out when you find him," replied Rude as he held out a hand, into which Reno promptly dropped one of the boxes he had prepared. The bald man continued working as he talked, "You seem more at ease now, though…you were pretty down when we were first partnered together."

"I guess, yo," Reno dropped some more slugs into a jar beside him as he moved onto another box. "Okay, I don't want to take any crap for this-"

"Have I ever given you crap on the sensitive or serious stuff?" interrupted the brawny Turk.

The blue-eyed teen nodded his concession before continuing, "I think I was sick of being alone, you know? I never really thought about it, but I guess I'm sort of a people person. I can take care of myself and all, but I like talking to you and teaming up with Cissnei to hassle some of the older Turks or sparring with Rod or Kilik…even Tseng is pretty cool; he's a lot better with me than any of my old bosses were."

Rude nodded, "That's nothing to be embarrassed about. Believe it or not, I was practically ecstatic when you came along. Everyone else has been here for a while, and I felt like I was intruding into their little group or something when I joined. Coming from a tight group of my own, I was used to people either just getting me or not mattering; trying to fit was never something I needed to pay any mind to."

"I think you fit, Aibou," commented the skinny redhead, "The others just haven't figured that out yet. They already know when to rely on you and when they don't need to tell you what to do, yo. They can't read you like I can, but I'm a lot better at that then they are…not to brag or anything. For them, that's a tool of the trade, they can take time to hone it; for me, that's always been a necessary skill for survival."

"Sometimes, I think it's more than just that," stated Rude, his voice lower than before. "Sometimes I just start to think shit and you react as if I actually said it out loud. Maybe that's what my mother meant all that time she kept going on about 'clicking' with a certain person…"

"You mean that speech you said she gave you guys anytime one of you had a break up or something?" asked Reno, sounding more thoughtful than Tseng thought the young man could be.

The bald man grunted something unintelligible, and Tseng would have believed that it was just a dismissing sound, had he not noticed the way Reno's eyes softened or the smirk that tugged on the corner of his mouth.

The raven-haired man was just deciding whether he should make his presence known or simply leave as quietly as he had come, when something happened that erased the last of his doubts about the pair in the room.

Still looking at Rude, Reno had failed to notice the sharp edge left behind by one of the slugs he had popped out of the box he had moved onto, and it left a small but deep slice across the tips of his third and fourth fingers on his left hand. He did not make any sound or even stop what he was doing, until Rude, in the same efficient motions that he had been constructing explosives a moment before, turned and grabbed the smaller Turk's wrist.

"C'mere." Rude quickly and silently removed a small package from his pocket and ripped it open as Reno slid closer to him. The large man wiped Reno's fingers with a disinfectant swab before securing a couple tiny band-aids over the small wounds and then placing a brief kiss into the palm of the redhead's pale hand. He silently tossed the wrappers into the waste bin beside the workbench and then both of the young men returned to their tasks as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Tseng slowly and silently left the building. On one hand, he now knew that the mental and emotional states of the pair were fine and that there was no need to worry about one of them snapping in the field, especially as long as they were partnered up. However, he now had a completely new series of questions regarding the two young men.

Sometimes, he _really_ believed that Verdot was testing him with those two…or maybe it was the powers that be. In any case, Tseng doubted he would ever fully understand Rude and Reno.

However, that did not seem to matter anymore, as they clearly understood each other.

The next time Verdot asked him to send them on a dangerous and important assignment, Tseng merely nodded and confidently carried out his orders…but not before he caught the smirk on Verdot's face as he left his superior's office. The Field Commander vaguely wondered if there truly was anything his boss did not know about his subordinates.

He decided that thought was too frightening to contemplate and that he really needed to start curbing his curiosity anyway.

The next time Tseng left the office late, he heard Rude speaking quietly from his own office again, followed by a breathy gasp that the Field Commander was sure came from Reno.

He did not pause for a second as he headed straight to the elevator.


End file.
